Key Takeaways
- • Thoma Bravo manages $179 billion in assets, according to the All-In Podcast introduction, and the host noted the firm raised $34.4 billion in June across its fund vehicles.
- • Orlando Bravo attributes the firm's growth to a deliberately small team of about 230 people, which he says keeps the firm externally focused on deals, companies and buyers.
- • Thoma Bravo has built its track record by scaling deal size incrementally, from a $50 million first deal to a $100 million enterprise value deal and a $250 million deal before its 2010 take-private of SonicWall for $550 million.
- • Bravo says private equity's software focus has changed the industry's reputation: roughly half of PE deal volume is now technology, and recent software deals were priced at seven to eight times revenue with about 30% debt financing.
- • Bravo described the firm's model as alignment with its capital sources, arguing returns, not size, determine whether a manager can stay in business.
Summary
Orlando Bravo, founder and managing partner of Thoma Bravo, joined the All-In Podcast at the All-In Summit to discuss how the firm became one of the largest software-focused private equity managers. The show's introduction described Thoma Bravo as managing $179 billion in assets, with the firm founded in 2008 and having returned over $13 billion to investors in the prior year. Hosts also cited the firm's June fundraising of $34.4 billion across vehicles.
Bravo, who grew up in Puerto Rico, described how his mother, a Cuban immigrant, shaped his early path through structured tennis competition and steady expectations. He said Hurricane Maria in 2017 prompted him to fly to Puerto Rico the day after the storm, and that he later coordinated food and water deliveries to a shelter near his hometown of Mayaguez when the local government struggled to serve the area.
On his career entry, Bravo said he struggled to find a private equity role in 1997, when the industry was small. He credited Carl Thoma, co-founder of the firm, with hiring him despite his preference for U.S. technology buyouts over Latin American private equity. Bravo attributed much of the firm's approach to mentorship and to keeping the team small, arguing that large organizations become internally focused.
On the business model, Bravo said the firm has pursued its strategy one step at a time, and that alignment with limited partners is central because poor returns would erode the firm's capital base. He argued that software companies should not remain under one owner for decades, and that new ownership can bring fresh perspective. He also rejected the perception that private equity is inherently cutthroat, saying that characterization was accurate for the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s but less so now, given that about half of PE deal volume is in technology and Thoma Bravo's software deals depend on growing the businesses they acquire.
Bravo described the current structure of software buyouts: deals priced around seven to eight times revenue, financed with roughly two turns of revenue in debt and about 70% equity. He said returns on older deals came mainly from cash yield, while the firm's software returns now depend more on terminal value and growth.
Bravo, who grew up in Puerto Rico, described how his mother, a Cuban immigrant, shaped his early path through structured tennis competition and steady expectations. He said Hurricane Maria in 2017 prompted him to fly to Puerto Rico the day after the storm, and that he later coordinated food and water deliveries to a shelter near his hometown of Mayaguez when the local government struggled to serve the area.
On his career entry, Bravo said he struggled to find a private equity role in 1997, when the industry was small. He credited Carl Thoma, co-founder of the firm, with hiring him despite his preference for U.S. technology buyouts over Latin American private equity. Bravo attributed much of the firm's approach to mentorship and to keeping the team small, arguing that large organizations become internally focused.
On the business model, Bravo said the firm has pursued its strategy one step at a time, and that alignment with limited partners is central because poor returns would erode the firm's capital base. He argued that software companies should not remain under one owner for decades, and that new ownership can bring fresh perspective. He also rejected the perception that private equity is inherently cutthroat, saying that characterization was accurate for the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s but less so now, given that about half of PE deal volume is in technology and Thoma Bravo's software deals depend on growing the businesses they acquire.
Bravo described the current structure of software buyouts: deals priced around seven to eight times revenue, financed with roughly two turns of revenue in debt and about 70% equity. He said returns on older deals came mainly from cash yield, while the firm's software returns now depend more on terminal value and growth.
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